Filbert Bayi
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| Nationality | Tanzanian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
June 23, 1953 Arusha, Tanzania |
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| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 59 kg (130 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Track | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | 1500 metres, Mile | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) |
800 metres: 1:45.32 1500 metres: 3:32.2 Mile: 3:51.0 3000 metres: 7:39.27 2-mile: 8:19.45 5000 metres: 13:18.2 3000-m steeplechase: 8:12.48 |
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Medal record
Filbert Bayi
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Filbert Bayi Sanka (born June 23, 1953) is a former Tanzanian middle-distance runner of the 1970s who set the world records for 1500 metres in 1974 and the mile in 1975. He is still the 1500 m Commonwealth Games record holder.
Born in Arusha, Tanzania, his greatest moment was arguably the 1500 m final at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, New Zealand, when he won the gold medal ahead of New Zealand runner John Walker and Kenyan Ben Jipcho. Bayi set a new world record of 3 min 32.16 s, ratified by the IAAF as 3:32.2, and Walker went under the old world record set by Jim Ryun as well. Third place Jipcho, fourth place Rod Dixon, and fifth place Graham Crouch also ran the fourth, fifth, and seventh fastest 1500 m times to that date. It is still classed as one of the greatest 1500 m races of all time. There was no jockeying for position in the race; Bayi led from the beginning in a fast pace and was 20 metres ahead at 800 metres, the other runners strung out in a line behind him.
"Think about the change that occurred in the 1500m at Christchurch. The 1500m was usually a slow race and then a sprint [at the finish]. But in 1974 I changed that from the beginning to the end. And not many people have thought about that."
In 1975, Bayi broke Ryun's eight-year-old mile record by clocking 3:51.0 in Kingston, Jamaica on 17 May. The record was short-lived as Walker became history's first sub-3:50 miler on 12 August of the same year, running 3:49.4 at Gothenburg.
It was hoped that the Bayi-Walker clash would continue but, because Tanzania boycotted the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, it never materialized. However, since Bayi was suffering from a bout of malaria shortly before the Olympics, he may not have been able to challenge Walker even had there been no boycott.
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Wikipedia